A Child of Hitler
In Alfons'Heck's chilling autobiography, A Child of Hitler, he opens for the reader a unique look into the inner workings of the Nazi regime, not as a mere bystander but as a product of the dictatorship itself.The book begins where most historical accounts of the Third Reich do. It begins with the conditions that existed in Germany after World War I, which allowed for Adolph Hitler to assume a vast amount of power at the time. While these conditions are well documented, Heck's version adds first hand emotional experience to it by delicately interweaving emotion into the events as they occurred.These insights, although narrowed in scope primarily to the impact of just one individual and his family, show how fanaticism which followed Hitler laid much more heavily in the country's youth rather than its adult population. These were the individuals most influenced by Hitler's propaganda and therefore became his greatest asset. Hitler was able to further refine this tool, by using strong discipline instilled as a result of st
Most of them acted like hardened men. rict military training within the Hitler Youth. Instead of faltering among these lofty expectations, according to the author the members of the Hitler Youth seemed to excel under the circumstances to the point of having vital importance to the Third Reich and their pursuit of a "grossduestchland," a greater Germany. This regime of strict discipline and responsibility helped to rapidly form war ready soldiers that Hitler was dependent upon from his Hitler Youth. Many had already lost a father or brother in battle and they were inured to the possibility of death. >From the book, it becomes evident that it was the Hitler Youth who were Adolph Hitler's greatest followers, while the adults within this time period were much more skeptical and less inclined to follow their Furher's orders blindly. Throughout the course of the book, and the descriptions of the daily activities undertaken by Alfons Heck, it is easy to forget that the reader is dealing with a boy of no more than sixteen or seventeen years old at the most. " The effect that the rally at Nuremberg had on Heck as described by he himself can undoubtedly be applied to thousands of other children becoming the Hitler Youth as a result of the rally at Nuremberg. During the later part of the book, Heck as a youth is given the responsibilities of being bannfurher, the equivalent to a general in a western army, as well as the obligation of serving time with the Luftewaffe, the German Airforce. One of the most amazing aspects within the book remains the amount of responsibility placed on the shoulders of mere children at the time. The later, in order to gain the training needed to become a fighter pilot. These emotions can be summed up in Heck's description of how his experiences at the carefully scripted Nuremberg gave him exactly what he and most other children longed for," A 10-year-old does not see the world in abstract concept's, but purely in the terms of personal experience. The Nazi propaganda exploited a child's ignorance in the ways of the world while only having a limited effect on the adults during this time period. This was something Adolph Hitler was acutely aware of and as a result he was able to refine and booster this fanaticism with the inclusion of the Hitler Youth into Nazi party events as well as special mention during many of his speeches. As Heck describes:" It was astonishing how fast young boys matured under pressure and unrelenting duty.
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